Putin Trolls ‘the Resistance’

Vladimir Putin not only has the Democrats’ number, he’s dialing it every day.

Dems are desperate to believe Russia “hacked the election” last year to defeat Hillary Clinton, and Putin’s happy to feed the paranoia to help paralyze Washington. It’s crank-calling at its finest, really. Thus, on Thursday he said that Russia’s government has never engaged in hacking . . . but mayyybeee Russian “patriotic hackers” meddled in the election, all on their own.

“Hackers are free people like artists,” Putin said. “If artists get up in the morning feeling good, all they do all day is paint. If they [hackers] are feeling patriotic, they will start contributing, as they believe, to the justified fight against those speaking ill of Russia.”

He seemed to be confirming the interference while denying responsibility. What better way to bring smoke pouring from progressive ears, and screams of He’s covering for Trump.

Putin also allowed as how he still has hopes for closer cooperation with America, once the current “Russo-phobic hysteria,” which is aimed at Trump “to prevent him from working normally,” fades.

That gave “the resistance” patriotic cause to stay its course, feeding the idea that Trump will sell out America if they let him.

Finally, Putin parried a query from NBC’s Megyn Kelly about the US intelligence community’s finding that Moscow had meddled by asking if she’d read the report. Yes, she said, the unclassified version.

Putin came back: “That’s nothing, I’ve actually read those reports” — implying he’d read the classified ones, that his spies have penetrated the US government that thoroughly.

All in all, Grade-A trolling.